Micropolyphony

Cloud-like textures of dense, "flocking", related patterns

• Wikipedia article
• Bernard, J. (1987). Inaudible Structures, Audible Music: Ligeti's Problem, and His Solution. Music Analysis 6:3, 207-36.

Representative composers

• György Ligeti
• Babaian, Vahram Ohani (Fifth Symphony)

What is Micropolyphony?

Put simply, Micropolyphony is when there are so many multiple lines playing simultaneously that the overall sound is misconstrued. The musical parts are so dense and intertwined that the clarity of individual lines does not exist and a cloud like texture results.

Micropolyphony has also been described as “microscopic tangles of intertwined instrumental lines – a kind of musical spider’s web.” http://www.keepmedia.com/pubs/RoughGuidesMusic/2001/11/01/284410?extID=10037&oliID=229

Ligeti says of Micropolyphony:

• “Micropolyphony means such a dense tissue that the individual parts become inaudible and only the resulting intermingling harmonies are effective as a form”.

• “The complex polyphony of the individual parts is embodied in a harmonic-musical flow, in which the harmonies do not change suddenly, but merge into one another; one clearly discernible interval combination is gradually blurred, and from this cloudiness it is possible to discern a new interval combination taking shape”.

Who coined the technique?

Micropolyphony is a term which György Ligeti used to describe a compositional technique he used to created a ‘net-structure’, a term used qualitatively (as opposed to technically) to refer to a “feeling Ligeti had about the textures of the pieces - an allusion to a childhood dream where Ligeti was caught in a room full of entangling webs.” http://mto.societymusictheory.org/issues/mto.96.2.5/mto.96.2.5.clendinning.html

Two different techniques were used by Ligeti to create the feelings and textures of a net-structured work. The two sub-categories of net-structure are:

• i) Micropolyphony Ligeti Etudes and
• ii) Meccanico Poème symphonique for 100 Metronomes (1962), a piece of "mechanical music" which lasts until the last device finally stops beating.

How is it achieved?

There are several techniques which can be used to create micropolyphony. Listed below are some examples.

Polyphony which is so dense that all individual lines are obscured

Listen to Atmospheres

This technique is achieved by writing for each section of an orchestra such that there are separate ideas occurring within the sections. Every instrument within each section has a melodic line as equally important as every other instruments melodic line. This creates polyphony both within each section and again on a larger scale. When this technique is applied there is simply too much occurring for the human ear to decipher. The sound therefore, will be heard as a whole, replicating the entangling web idea mentioned above.

Multiple canonic lines

Listen to Lontano

Repeating an idea or motif over and over again with each repetition played by a different instrument. By displacing their starting point, the idea/motif becomes layered over itself many times and yet each instrument never plays the idea in unison with another.

Step-wise voice-leading

See Lux Aeterna sheet music and Lux Aeterna audio

Much of the music written by Ligeti explored gradual chromatic movement with multiple parts. When many parts are layered to create a dense sonic field, utilizing broad register range and timbre diversity, it is possible for the duration of each note to be quite substantial - changing infrequently - and still achieve harmonic diversity due to the vast amounts of layers.

This technique creates a rich timbre texture and one where the harmonic structure gradually transforms by the use of chromatic movement. The changes, however, are so subtle that listening to the work is like watching the sun set or the clouds move. It is difficult to see the changes one by one, but look away and come back five, or even 2 minutes later, and it is completely different.

What is its purpose in a composition

Micropolyphony suspends pulse and harmony. By creating such a dense sonic field which changes slowly over time (see Step-wise voice-leading above) a strong sense of pulse, or driving rhythm is eliminated. A strong tonal centre is also avoided by the use of chromatic steps.

“Clusters of adjacent sounds are used to achieve slow, seamless changes, most famously in Lux Aeterna for unaccompanied voices, in which fine graduations of pitch create a kind of warped polyphony.” http://www.keepmedia.com/pubs/RoughGuidesMusic/2001/11/01/284410?extID=10037&oliID=229

Suited instrumentation?

Micropolyphony can be applied to any instrument desired.

Ligeti composed for orchestra and choir, solo voice and orchestra, metronomes and more.

When Was Micropolyphony First Used?

Micropolyphony was used extensively by Ligeti throughout the 1960’s and 70’s. In the late 60’s and 70’s Ligeti’s use of micropolyphony slowly developed, the lines becoming increasingly clearer, reestablishing a sense of “melody, counterpoint and harmony, whilst rhythm also resurfaced”. http://www.keepmedia.com/pubs/RoughGuidesMusic/2001/11/01/284410?extID=10037&oliID=229

Listen to:

Chamber Concerto , Melodien and the Double Concerto for flute and oboe.

Recommended Listening

San Francisco Polyphony, for orchestra